Striving for ubiquity of simulation in operations through educational enhancements

Abstract

The 50th anniversary of WSC provides a good opportunity to reflect on how widely simulation is used in the business world to support problem solving and decision making. This paper posits that, despite the success of the WSC, simulation is not as widely used as it should be and that a major cause is a general lack of understanding of the value of simulation outside of the simulation-specialist community. However, this paper suggests that one way to increase the use of simulation is through changes in education. As part of the review and development of suggested changes, the paper examines the activities related to education at the WSC. It then offers a variety of suggestions for how the simulation education community — including academics, practitioners, and vendors — can help to address this issue.